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Early Season Baits

I

Ian Wetton

Senior Member
Whilst I have experienced some success on small local stretches of river, I have got a ticket on the Dove at Sudbury this year where bigger creatures lurk.

Any tips on what best baits / approach to use on the 16th would be welcome.
 
Hi Ian - Julian's advice is sound, as ever. I've not fished the Dove either, so good luck on the 16th and make sure you report back if you catch anything :)
 
Julian Griffiths said:
Never fished the River mate, but lets try and get some conversation going on this for you!

Grubber or Ellips pellets would no doubt work, or look at the Teme Severn website, I used their Salmon flavoured pellets to good effect a few seasons back, and they worked immediately, no doubt still do if I were to use them again.

A good tip would be to try and find out what pellets/boilies are predominately being used on that venue, then try something 'just' a little different.

The salmon pellets that I once used worked on a water with devastating results due in part that so many anglers were using the Hinders ellips pellets, so I decided to use something very similar, but made sure the flavour of the bait was something different.
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Thanks Julian.

I was really wondering whether to take the pellet / boilie attack or with more natural baits ( castors / hemp ).

I would pressume that most fish hadn't seen familiar introduced baits for a few months and I don't want to get too complicated in my approach if I don't have to.
 
Ian Wetton said:
Thanks Julian.

I was really wondering whether to take the pellet / boilie attack or with more natural baits ( castors / hemp ).

I would pressume that most fish hadn't seen familiar introduced baits for a few months and I don't want to get too complicated in my approach if I don't have to.
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What about hemp and pellets? Without wishing to come across argumentative why are hemp and casters more natural to a fish than boilies and pellets? OK they are a 'natural' product but it still takes an angler to throw them in to feed the fish - unless there are a lot of hemp plantations along the banks of the Dove, they won't have seen any of those either! Seriously - they will eat whatever you put infront of them. I can't honestly imagine a group of barbel swimming past a patch of pellets or boilies because they can't remember what they are - infact i wouldn't credit them with that level of thought in the first place. The key to early season success, and mid to late season for that matter, is putting the food infront of them in the first place - i.e. - location!

Stick to what you know works Ian then the only choice will be which swim to fish and where to cast. If it's not working in first choice swim - move!

Oh and Tom, bloody great worm = bloody great eel! ;)
 
Hi Ian. If your river is not heaving with silver fish and you plan to target just one swim for the day, (after finding several likely swims) then the maggot or caster with hemp block-end feeder has no competition for putting barbel on the bank, none.
You'll need deepish pockets though, as 3-4 pints of casters are not a cheap day out. I'd combine these, (casters would be my first choice) with 6-8 pints of standard hemp.
I would start off by bait-dropping 20% of my total bait into the swim and then resting it for half an hour, before casting in my feeder combined with three casters on a size Drennan SS size 12, tied to 18 inches of your favorite mono.
If you're roving, then lightly pre-baiting 6-8 swims with quality pellets or boilies, (never both), early on in the day, then rotating the swims over the day will bring results.
The Dove sounds like a nice river, good luck.
 
Thanks for the advice Chris.
There are no Roach / Dace present, mainly Chub, Grayling and Trout.
I will have a walk about over the next few days and see if I can locate some fish.
 
Good luck whatever you try, the Dove is a river I would absolutely love to fish - got some cracking fish in there.
 
This topic caught my eye as it's one of those questions that we've probably all posed or pondered at one time or another. I now tend to stick with one main bait and a couple of variants in case it simply yields nothing. My main hook bait (used with great success) is a 12mm Monster Worm boilie fished with a small cage feeder containing a mix of Particle 42, standard groundbait mix and hemp and a few crushed boilies for good measure. As Andrew said earlier - stick with what you know and put the time into finding the right spot, it works for me.
 
Julian - I'm sold !!
I went on the Severn site and they cost a fortune to deliver.

Can you buy them in local shops ?
 
I am surprised no one has mentioned sweetcorn, a winner on clear rivers. A couple of years a go I was still catching on corn right up until December.
 
Yes but you know how **** the forecasters are, since some horrendous floods in June 07?and the hurricane that swept through the home counties in the 80s, they seem to errr on the side of safety somewhat or over dramatise the predicted rainfall.
Personally, bait wise, why use a bait everybody else is using, be more radical and use some thing no one else is using. While I myself was using my standard tack last season I did hear of numerous reports of naturals being a wonder bait in the last days of last season. Always better to stay one step in front and not rely on just oneor two baits.
Only my opinion
 
Steven Brown said:
It is but it ain't easy lots of blanks!
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I had a walk along the stretch today and whilst it looks awesome, it looks far from easy. So think you maybe right.

On the plus side I saw a few fish which were all in shallow glides, but spooked at the introduction of a few pellets. The water levels are really low and the water crystal clear.

So :

Is it best to wait for the fish to come and go, feed and wait for them to come back ?
Feed a swim 20 yards upstream from the fish and wait for them to come to me ?
Find a deeper run near to the fish and fish there ?
 
Ian Wetton said:
I had a walk along the stretch today and whilst it looks awesome, it looks far from easy. So think you maybe right.

On the plus side I saw a few fish which were all in shallow glides, but spooked at the introduction of a few pellets. The water levels are really low and the water crystal clear.

So :

Is it best to wait for the fish to come and go, feed and wait for them to come back ?
Feed a swim 20 yards upstream from the fish and wait for them to come to me ?
Find a deeper run near to the fish and fish there ?
Click to expand...

Who knows mate they all sound like good plans if they work on that day but that doesn't mean the same things will work the next this is why we love to angle for them. The thinking part just drives us mad! One thing won't change and that's the dove is a better night river.
 
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